C1840 "Club Butt" percussion longfowler - $950.00
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Unusually late C1840 "Club Butt" or "Perch Belly" percussion longfowler. Marked on trade lock "BELL/LONDON". 44" round barrel with octagon breech section showing British proofs. Metal parts have an untouched patina overall with pitting in the barrel breech section that suggests a great deal of use over the years. Stock has a "fan" carving around the barrel tang and wrist checkering, with a tasteful border carving around the "belly" of the butt into the wrist flute. Right side of butt features a Pennsylvania Dutch hex symbol incise carved. Stock has an old added finish overall with expected minor handling marks and some grain cracks showing in the left side of the butt, behind barrel tang, opposite lock, and very small age checks below bolster and at some of the locating pins in the stock. Original ramrod has lost some of its length at the thin end, but still displays well in the gun. This dramatic stock style is most often seen on late 18th/early 19th century guns, but the back action lock demonstrates that the old ways died hard, similarly to the Bedford County, Pennsylvania rifles that were made in their distinctive style until the turn of the 20th century, well into the cartridge era. Mechanically good, sold as a collector item only, not warranted safe to shoot.
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